This research addresses the question of whether oral corticosteroid therapy for asthma in children significantly contributes to the less than adequate school performance often seen in this population. In a study recently completed by the principal investigator, children receiving steroid medication were found to perform significantly worse than nonasthmatics on tests of visual retention and paired associate learning as a function of post medication testing time. This proposal seeks to determine the clinical importance of these initial results by taking advantage of a unique arrangement whereby an accredited public school exists on the grounds of National Jewish Hospital/National Asthma Center for the use of our resident children. Through this facility we can measure academic performance (reading, mathematics, and spelling) as a function of medication to a degree (daily) very difficult to obtain in any other public school setting. These measurements will enable us to determine 1) if there is a cyclical variation in school performance based on alternate day steroid therapy, 2) if moderately large daily doses of steroids (bursts) given when needed to theophylline dependent asthmatic children disrupt academic performance, and, if so, for how long, 3) whether tests sensitive to steroid effects (Benton Visual Retention Test, associate learning portion of the Wechsler Memory Scale) are reliable predictors of reduced academic performance. If steroid regimens are found to affect academic performance then 1) the curriculum of affected children can be arranged so that presentation of new concepts occurs at optimal times throughout the medication schedule, 2) remediation programs can be centered around medication schedules to provide the most effective remedial benefit, 3) subject variables (IQ, age, sex, emotionality, etc.) can be investigated to determine if certain children are at greater cognitive risk, 4) the development of a small battery can be undertaken to assess cognitive sensitivity to steroids, and 5) investigation of cognitive effects in other steroid populations should proceed.